TOPIC: New Member 3 New tiger oscars 5 months old

That is eco-complete planted 'black' substrate and not eco-complete cichlid 'zack black' since it came sealed in the bag with liquid. Is the wysteria still not growing? I'd think the color spectrum and intensity emitted by those LEDs would be adequate for some growth at least. Does brown algae grow low on the glass? What about green algae?

I'm guessing Tarheel knows something about eco comeplete planted 'black' that I don't. Based on what he said previously..

That looks like brown algae to me

Causes could be from Excess silicates (from rocks or substrate), excess nitrates, inadequate light, or low oxygen levels. The others might be able to help you figure out what is causing it. I'm just here to tell you it's not mold . Sometimes I get brown algae on my aquarium since I use DIY LED lights that produce a very little amount of light, and I also use silica sand. Not really a bad thing, just unsightly.

im running 2 4ft dual bay led lights that are 4000k each.. think lighting is not the issue.. these are river stones i got from down the st.. i did run through some boiling water to clean any disease of them... but maybe low oxygen could be the problem.. i dont have an air stone just what the water creates as it comes back in to the tank as i have it coming in from a spray on top about an inch above the water... i like the sound of a waterfall lol

That's definitely brown diatom algae. They're growing on the rocks because their white surfaces are the brightest thing in the aquarium. Diatoms are very common and will also grow on glass.

The best thing you can do to keep them from growing more is to keep the nutrients they use to a minimum by increasing water change frequency or volume. The ratio of their composition is around 85 : 11 : 10 : 1 Carbon : Silicon : Nitrogen : Phosphorus. You limit their nitrogen with water changes.

I brush them off before water changes so they get sucked out with the old water.

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New Member 3 New tiger oscars 5 months old
11 months 6 days ago #70041

as long as its not harmful ill take care of it soon.. im in a temp situation for offices until my new place is ready in a few weeks.. then i have to break down the whole tank to move so then i can give it a solid cleaning and get it all out as i plan on changing the substrate to sand or even bare bottom have decided yet... i own a graphic company so i was going to print a revers image of sand and stick the the underside of the tank so it looks like a sand bottom but still a bare bottom tank then

So i took the fish out of the tank .. drained the whole tank took out all the gravel because i wasnt liking the look anymore... scrubbed the whole thing down... cleaned out the canister filter put in all new media.. and put only 1 of the old filters back in for the bacteria.. set the tank back up left it bare bottom put in a full bottle of fluval bacteria and a double dose of prime.. let it run for a few hours checked the levels everything was perfect.. put the fish back in and they are happy has ever... swimming all over colors are popping after a few days now.. i also added a cheap $10 air and 2 air stones to the tank the lover that.. swimming through the bubbles all day long ... im loving the bare bottom making it super easy to clean and lowers the cleaning time alot..

I read a study showing that below a certain level diatoms can't grow. These products claim to bring Si down to 0.02 mg/L within 4 days which is well below that level.

I got a liter of PhosBond and the test kit a couple months ago but haven't gotton around to using it yet. I was going to use it for my kribensis tank which has diatoms bad, but it also has plants and the PhosBond will remove phosphates needed for plant growth. I'll use PhosBond in an aging tank and then add phosphates back into the water before it goes into the tank.

For a small tank it's cost effective. For larger tanks ... not so much.. 1 liter of PhosBond (~$30) would be enough for about 20 treatments (after 20 water changes) on a tank your size.